ARTIST: Tech N9ne
ALBUM: Strangeulation
LABEL: Strange Music
RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2014
Indy Legend
Written by Jeremy Weeden
Midwest legend Tech N9ne returns with new music in the form of Strangeulation, his fifth collabos album. Strangeulation features all of his Strange Music artists as well as Tyler Lyon, Ryan Bradley, Mackenzie O’Guin, Kendall Morgan, John 5 and Serj Tankian and the majority of the album was produced by Kansas City-producer Seven.
The first track, “Strangeulation I” features Tech N9ne’s trademark rapid fire flow and is the first in a four-part series featuring the rest of the Strange Music family in a cypher. The next three “Strangeulation” cypher tracks are dispersed throughout the album. The next song on the album, “Hard (A Monster Made It),” features Strange Music’s newest signee, California rapper Murs. He fits right in with the crew dropping the lines “Kings get assassinated, castles all crumble/Forever lives the legend of a poet who is humble/Words to live by, now I die by a strange code/About to kill this verse, they call me Murs if you ain’t know/I don’t rap fast, I’mma leave that up to Tech and ‘em/Ces, Bernz, Krizz, Rittz, Wrek and the rest of ‘em.”
“Over It” features Ryan Bradley singing a pop punk chorus. This song has crossover appeal and if Tech N9ne releases it as a single, has potential to be a hit. “Make Waves” continues the rock-tinged vibe with its hard guitar riffs and gruff chorus. “Nobody Cares” is an excellent song with a beat that slows over the chorus and really highlights Seven’s versatility as a producer. The melancholy chorus goes “Everything in my head, all these words that I said/Nobody cares, nobody cares/And nobody gives a damn what I say, who I am/Nobody cares, nobody cares/These bright lights, show my life nobody cares.”
“Great Night” has a very catchy beat and chorus and has great potential to be a club banger. Over a hard sounding classic boom bap beat, Tech N9ne rips it dropping lyrics like “Before the final destination we make a pit stop/To get Keisha then who sits in the back twist crops/Every move a nigga make in the spot chicks watch/So it’s very little tick tock to get box.”
“Fear” is a very personal song about Tech N9ne’s mother’s illness. His pain is felt through the lyrics “Now my mom’s worse and a lot ill/My fear is that this God I’m prayin to for my mother is not real.”
“The Calling” is another personal song about Tech’s struggles with alcohol and drinking too much. He illustrates his problems using the lyrics “I feel that pain comin from inside/My people had the same drinkin and then died/Devil in my brain I’m sinkin within pride/Drinkin for lunch and I’m drinkin for dinner/I’m nothin but lush when I’m pushin up in her/I seldom remember the 8th of November/Cause I be goin so hard I’m always on a bender.”
Strangeulation is a good album and highlights the talents of the Strange Music Artists. Each song features Tech N9ne so familiarity is there with each song, but the other artists are given ample room to shine. Strangeulation is a nice addition to Tech N9ne’s catalogue and again proves he has created his own lane as well as a path for others. Tech N9ne has struggled for years to get his proper recognition from the industry but now as he seems to be achieving it his feelings can best be summed up by his spoken word outro on “Hard:”
“It’s getting to the point where I don’t even wanna work with rappers no more, man/All these years of trying to get ‘em all to see, now I just wanna do what I been doin/Just make music for my Technicians to bang.”